RI farmers form association

JAKARTA: A number of farmers producing organic food have formed the Indonesian Organic Goods Producers Association (APOI) here on Thursday.

The farmers signed a declaration of the new association at the City Hall, APOI chairman Purbo Winarno said.

"The establishment of the association follows the recent meeting of a group of organic food producers concerned about Indonesia's agriculture sector," Purbo said.

APOI, he said, would help the Indonesian government improve the quality and quantity of the country's agricultural produce through organic farming, and hopefully, the environment.

The new association groups producers of food crops, horticultural crops, plantation crops, fishery products, marine products, husbandry products, organic seedlings, organic fertilizers and bio-pesticides.

Organic goods are still unpopular among Indonesians, many of whom do not believe that they are useful, Purbo said, and that provincial administrations had yet to promote organic products. -- Antara